WOW Reads: Bonus - MSRAP End of Year Review

In this final reflection on the year, Middle School Reading Ambassadors say we indulged ourselves in truth through fiction.

In our experience, books tell us stories that we might not otherwise have access to about important topics that require discussion. We’ve learned how to ask good questions and make connections. Also, we’ve had growth in our ability to talk about these topics with each other and how we engage authors. 

Four is the magic number:
4 - Books we read together (officially)
4 - Authors we met (officially)
4 - Hours of focused reading during our Read-a-thon

Unenumerated:
* The excitement we experience when someone picks up a book we recommend
* All the bagels we consume

Books mentioned in this episode:
Halfway to Somewhere by Jose Pimienta
Don’t Cause Trouble by Arree Chung
The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta
Alone and Away by Megan E. Freeman
Miracle by Karen S. Chow

This podcast was recorded in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab (DIALL) in the U of A College of Education.

Producer/Host: Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Center Associate Director
Lit Discussant: Narges Zandi, U of A COE Graduate Assistant
Audio Engineer: Alexis Mendoza, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A Art Major
Coordinator: Vianey Torres, Student Employee and Nursing Major
Digital Collaborator: Melanie Reyes, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A First-year Student

Music is "A Day In The Life" by Grant Green

For more information on the Worlds of Words Middle School Reading Ambassadors (MSRAP), visit wowlit.org.

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We Can Promote Global Literature Together!

The Worlds of Words Reading Ambassador program is completely free for participants who receive a book for themselves and a book to share with their school librarian, ELA/English teacher, or other school entity. If you would like to support this program, please make a gift on-line through the University of Arizona Foundation.

Thank you for listening and keep reading!

Transcript

Rebecca 0:00

Welcome to WOW Reads, a podcast that centers middle school and teen voices on books written for them.

Cheyenne 0:06

Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures is committed to creating an international network of people who share the vision of bringing books and children together, thereby opening windows on the world. We encourage thoughtful dialogue around global literature so that children can reflect on their own cultural experiences and connect to the experiences of children across the globe.

Gabriel 0:26

Worlds of Words Reading Ambassadors engage in a university experience of children's literature within the University of Arizona College of Education. Reading Ambassadors learn about literature for young people under the direction of faculty and staff with expertise in children's literature, education, library science, and marketing.

Ruth 0:44

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the university strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.

Rebecca 1:10

My name is Rebecca Ballinger, I'm the associate director of Worlds of Words, and this summer, now that we've completed our year of reading, I plan to still read.

Ali 1:19

 My name is Ali and I might play games all summer and watch youtube.

Safa 1:26

Hi, my name is Safa, and this summer I'm going to swim a lot.

Cheyenne 1:30

Hi, my name is Cheyenne, and I'm going to a lot of camps this summer.

Ruth 1:34

Hi, my name is Ruth. I'm going to Minnesota to spend time with my family and swim.

Milo 1:39

Hi, my name is Milo, and I'm going to be working at my job.

Audrey 1:43

My name is Audrey, and I'm planning to be playing video games. 

Gabriel 1:46

My name is Gabriel, and I'll be watching the World Cup.

Rebecca 1:50

Alright, so we have just spent a year together. We've read four books. Halfway to Somewhere by Jose Pimienta, Don't Cause Trouble by Aree Chung, The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta, and Alone by Megan E. Freeman. We also read Away by Megan E. Freeman. Somebody talk a little bit about these books and how they impacted you and how you shared them in your communities.

Cheyenne 2:20

I think it's really cool how we had non-binary books and things that don't get represented as much, especially in our community.

Gabriel 2:36

Alone and The Freedom Seeker really impacted me. It showed that we still have problems in the modern day world and loopholes in the American government system. It shows the dissatisfaction they have.

Ruth 2:47

I think The Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta was very impactful and it represented something in our nation that's currently a problem, and although some people don't like talking about it, it is an important topic and it affects millions of people.

Rebecca 3:03

So let's talk a little bit about our author visits. First of all, how many of you were in the Reading Ambassador program last year? And how many of you are new? So for those who can't see us, it's about half and half. So let's start with those of you who have never had an author visit. What was that like for you?

Audrey 3:24

For me, it was really exciting because I like to hear the author's point of view for the writing process and if they connected to the character.

Safa 3:35

For me, it was a new experience, and I got to know how authors create their books. 

Ali 3:39

It was fun to meet them, and then you get to know their personality.

Rebecca 3:46

So, for those of you who have been to author events, how has this second year or third year changed your perspective?

Cheyenne 3:54

I feel like we had way more connections with the authors instead of last year, because last year it was more just asking questions. But now I feel like, especially with Megan E. Freeman, we got to connect with a lot of the authors in more than just an interview way. More like a conversation.

Gabriel 4:19

It was nice to expand their perspectives on the reading landscape and see how they had their own different ways of publishing their books and having ideas.

Rebecca 4:28

So as you prepared for these author events, what kinds of things did we do as a group?

Milo 4:34

Some of the things that we've done as a group was we created a storyboard for ourselves and we had Aree Chung came over when we did our video call with him, we created a storyboard explaining something. Then for our first book, Halfway to Somewhere, we created a comic book sketch or a mind map of a big change we have moving from house to house or moving to a new school.

Rebecca 5:04

So before the authors come, we do some sort of engagement, is what you're saying, and we have a lit discussion that helps us get prepared. And so that usually takes about an hour and a half. So we spend a month reading the book, we take an hour and a half to have this literature discussion, but that's not all we do before we meet the authors.

Cheyenne 5:25

We also have activities that could also connect to the authors, like storyboarding or migration, because when we did The Freedom Seeker we drew a storyboard where we had to do a really long trip that involved migrating.

Rebecca 5:48

Yeah, so you thought about a time in your life where you had to make a big move, and then you thought about the emotions that you had over that time. So we do that. We have the reader response, and then we take a break, we go to the bathroom, we get a snack or whatever. Then you have to come back because you're the host of this author event. So what do you need to make sure you do as the host?

Milo 6:10

We have to have our questions ready so that we have a prepared and good author event.

Gabriel 6:16

We have to set out the publications to make sure people actually come.

Cheyenne 6:20

You have to organize the questions too.

Rebecca 6:23

Yeah, all of those things. So when you're coming up with the questions, do you think that you are better at asking questions now towards the end of the year, or are you the same? What was your process for approaching what questions to ask of the author?

Ruth 6:39

I think throughout the year, after writing so many questions and hearing so many other people's questions, we kind of learned how to do it better and we've improved.

Cheyenne 6:51

I also feel like we can differentiate common questions, open-minded, and closed-minded questions. So it's less short and more long, and we get a lot of thoughtful dialogue from our guests as well.

Rebecca 7:10

Yeah, so you're asking more open-ended questions at this point. You also see questions that we ask pretty standard. Like I've noticed that you are always curious about what inspired a particular book. And the inspiration spans over a lot of your questions. You also like to ask what inspires them, what inspired them to become an author. So that's one that you ask over time. Sometimes you get specific with your questions. So in addition to that I want to go to what Gabriel was talking about. You get a second copy of the book and you have to take that copy to somebody, usually at your school, if you have a school librarian or your English language arts teacher. What was that like for you over the course of the year?

Gabriel 7:59

I mean, we put it there, and if we were lucky, somebody would pick it up, to be honest. Publication was sort of a challenge.

Ruth 8:06

I think that the process of giving the extra books to our librarian or our English teacher is a talking point and it's very encouraging. Also, it helps our schools and it's literally a free book, which is very nice for our schools.

Cheyenne 8:24

I think it was cool to see others read the book and then you’re like “I brought that book!” It's really fun to see someone else read something that you brought for them to share. One of my friends read Miracle and I was really shocked because they said that their horizons really opened up for new reading because they haven't really been interested in reading, so it's cool to find somebody who’s like “Oh, I finally found the style of reading that I like.”

Rebecca 9:05

So we didn't just have lit discussions and author events, we did some other cool things too. Let's talk about the things that we did that were part of the program, but also outside of the program.

Milo 9:18

So one of the cool things we did outside was a Read-A-Thon where we just read for four hours straight, even though we did have breaks in between those hours. But it was nice because I really wanted to catch up on some of the books I've had, and there's a few books I've never read that I really wanted to start seeing if it was good or not.

Rebecca 9:34

How often do you take the opportunity to just sit down and read for four hours? Is that even built into your schedule normally?

Milo 9:45

It's a little new, but usually like if I'm on a road trip, like this year we went to Knott’s Berry Farm with my band, so there I read for like around three, maybe four hours since it was a seven hour trip. And then last year I would just read on the bus because there was nothing else to do.

Ruth 10:05

Something I enjoyed about the Read-A-Thon was we have very busy schedules with school and so it's hard to find time to read for four hours, very focused without distractions from school, So to be encouraged that way to do it, it was really nice and I enjoyed being able to read so many books during that time.

Rebecca 10:27

How would you change your schedule to accommodate more focused reading?

Cheyenne 10:33

For me, I always wake up super early in the morning. So I think instead of watching TV or being really stressed about school or getting my hair and outfit ready, I think it would be better to just relax for a little bit, get some hot tea and read a book.

Rebecca 10:58

So we did the Read-A-Thon and we did The Festival of Books. We sort of had a podcast that we did around The Festival of Books when we met Ruchira Gupta. I don't know if you were able to attend other events at the festival?

Gabriel 11:14

It was pretty nice to see the other things at the festival and how popular it was, and it was a nice experience to be on that big of a stage. 

Rebecca 11:25

Were you surprised by the crowds?

Gabriel 11:28

A bit.

Rebecca 11:28

Yeah, there are a lot of people who come to the festival. Okay, how about let's try to describe the program in as few words as possible.

Ruth 11:41

I would say it's like a book club, but with more opportunities. Like it's free and we get to meet the authors and have discussions.

Cheyenne 11:52

If I could describe it in one word, I would say it would be diverse because there's a lot of experiences.

Gabriel 11:58

It's sort of like a metaphorical statement that reading is still a strong force seen by people in the 21st century, even nowadays.

Ruth 12:07

I would also describe it as a big opportunity because that's really what it is. It's very rare to find something like this, and I really appreciate it. 

Rebecca 12:15

Who would you recommend the program for?

Gabriel 12:17

I know it's a bit obvious, but I mean people who like to read. It is somewhat like a book club at heart after all.

Rebecca 12:24

Do you think that you could convert somebody who thinks they don't like to read into a reader?

Ruth 12:30

I would because we read a lot of interesting books and I have done that before where if you really encourage someone but you present them with a good book from someone who is a caring person generally as the author, then it's easier than somewhat a not as interesting book to the person you're trying to convert.

Cheyenne 12:52

Also I think I feel like there's at least a book for everybody. Even if it's one or two, there is a book for everybody, and we need to indulge ourselves in more reading nowadays because there's a lot of fake news and fake stuff going on, and we also need to, you know, use more true resources because with the spread of AI it's not really valid to just research on common problems and stuff like that. So I think we should read more books and indulge ourselves in more history and literature.

Rebecca 13:29

Any final thoughts? 

Ruth 13:30

I agree with what she said just now. I think what's really nice about this program, and just reading in general, is it's multiple sources, and this program you learn about different viewpoints. Even in a fiction novel like The Freedom Seekers, it may be fiction, but it's about real stories and real people, and it all just relates back to actual people. Same with Halfway to Somewhere.

Gabriel 13:56

Even with all of it, books still exist, and as long as they're here, we can still have reliable sources and many viewpoints and diversity. Also the bagels are nice.

Rebecca 14:08

We mention the bagels every year. Yeah, shout out to them. Thank you. 

Thank you to Kathy Short, the director of Worlds of Words, for all of her leadership. Thank you to our donors who pay for all those bagels. Thank you to Narges Zandi, who was our lit discussant this year. Thank you to Vianey Torres, our administrative corraler, Alexis Mendoza, who does all of the work on our podcast, Melanie Reyes, who is helping us out with videos and social media. We are recording in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab and the University of Arizona College of Education.